3. Dealer Selection

The Deal:Nissan called us late last week with a special offer. In an effort to quiet speculation sparked by recent leaks of spy photos and videos, the Nissan PR department offered us special access to a camouflaged preproduction prototype of the next generation 2010 Nissan 370Z sports car — as long as we followed a few rules.

The Rules: Nissan allowed us to crawl all over the car as well as shoot photos and video of it. But as part of the agreement, we cannot disclose anything related to how the new Z drives since the car they showed us is not a final production model. We are also forbidden to show or discuss any part of the interior (although we have some spy shots of the interior for you below) or what’s under the hood.

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Not much of a deal? Actually, it was — in our few hours with the car and analysis of the images and footage we captured, we learned a ton. Here is all we know so far about the next generation Nissan Z.

It’s shorter: Compare profile shots of the new Z the current 350Z and it’s pretty clear the new car is significantly shorter. The present 350Z has an overall length of 169.9 inches (173.6 for the NISMO version) with a 104.3-inch wheelbase.

Where have the inches been cut? We broke out a tape measure and discovered that while the car is shorter overall, most of length is lost between the wheels, specifically aft of the B-pillar. This makes sense, as shortening a vehicle platform can be costly. One of the ways to contain those costs is to limit the amount of changes required to a car’s complex and complicated subassemblies — doors, for example. Though the new Z’s door shape and window openings may have changed, they don’t look any shorter. Nissan has clearly removed length from the space between the trailing edge of the door and rear wheel well opening. The front and rear overhangs are also markedly shorter. Nissan forbade us from saying exactly how much is gone, but it’s significant enough to impact not only the styling, but ride and handling as well.

It’s wider: The gain in width was harder to confirm, because the shorter wheelbase and reworked sheetmetal — particularly at the rear — give the impression of additional breadth. In truth, our tape measure reveals that the base car is only a bit wider than the current 350Z. With 18-inch wheels, today’s Z has a 60.5-inch track; on staggered 18- and 19-inch optional wheels, front and rear increase to 60.6- and 60.9-inches respectively. We expect to see the same kind of increase in track width as the next Z goes from base to high performance spec models.

It’s lighter — probably: This one area where we can only speculate, since we weren’t allowed to weigh the new Z. But it very well could be lighter, as the car has lost significant length and only gained only a bit in width. As for rumors of a larger engine, which could offset losses elsewhere? We’ll get to those later, because we found additional evidence of weight savings due changes in materials and structure.

We had heard rumors Nissan might be replacing a few of the high tensile steel body panels with either composites (a la BMW M3) or aluminum (used for the 350Z’s hood). To confirm what is steel and what is not on the new Z, we used a simple test: running a magnet over all the major body panels.

Our magnet did not attach to the front or rear fascia or hood — which wasn’t surprising as these have traditionally been made of non-ferrous materials (urethane/aluminum). It stuck to the front and rear fenders, as well as the roof, which wasn’t surprising either. When we got to the doors and rear hatch, our magnet failed to attach. Tapping these panels revealed a definite metallic tone. What does this mean? While they could be composite, they are more than likely aluminum. Either way, this would mean significant weight savings. If you’ve ever hoisted the rear hatch of a 350Z, an aluminum piece could mean a big difference.

When we peered through the rear hatch glass we noticed further evidence of weight reduction. Gone is the massive brace that ties the 350Z’s rear strut towers together. Instead, the Z mule had a much thinner pipe-shaped brace directly behind the seats.

It’s more aggressive, but clearly a Z: Despite the light camouflage, more compact dimensions, and reworked profile, there is no mistaking the Z heritage, and several current Nissan design themes.

Most striking is the new Z’s roofline and fastback. The A-pillar appears to be straighter and sharper. The windshield looks to be the same (as these are expensive pieces to manufacture), but the supporting A-pillar seems straighter and sharper. Instead of swooping towards the tail in a graceful curve, the A-pillar meets the leading edge of the roof at a point, which is similar to the design found on the Nissan GT-R. But unlike the GT-R, the roofline curves back in what looks to be constant arc before flattening out a touch for the tail (and attachment point for rear spoiler). From the front three quarter angle, the smaller Z rump disappears as the curving roofline merges into the wide rear fenders for a look reminiscent of a Porsche 911.

Upon closer examination, it becomes clear how this look was achieved. Compare the beltlines (where the bottom edge of the window meets sheetmetal) with the current Z and you’ll notice a striking change. On the old car, you could trace a continuous belt line that stretched from headlight to taillight. On the new Z, the horizontal seam behind the rear window is gone because there is no longer overlap from the rear hatch; the rear fender sheetmetal now extends all the way up to the edge of the hatch. This creates a beltline that turns up just after the B-pillar and a tiny, porthole-like set of rear windows.

Other minor exterior revisions include a restyled hood sans the “power dome” added to the 350Z in 2007. The hood’s only surface detailing appear to be two character lines — similar to the hood found on the original 350Z. Door handles are larger and triangular shaped, with a silver button probably for keyless entry. Note that the handles no longer line up with the door seam, but are inset by an inch or so.

Our base model test mule came equipped with handsome, 18-inch five-spoke alloy wheels wrapped in Yokohama Advan Sport tires (245/45R18) — the first time Yokohama’s have been found on the Z. Brakes on this base model appear to be carryovers from the base 350Z. Up front, the vented discs appeared to be around 12-inches in diameter with what looked to be two-piston calipers. Rears discs were similarly sized, with a smaller, possibly single-piston setup.

It’s more powerful — probably: Here again, we must rely purely on speculation as Nissan would not confirm either the engine or the output of the vehicle it provided. We will say that the exhaust note sounds very similar to current 350Z, supporting the rampant rumors that the next Z will have a derivative of the current car’s VQ35 engine.

So is it — as has been posited by many — in fact a 370Z? Again Nissan would not officially confirm, but logic says yes. The current Z makes 306 horsepower and 268 lb-ft of torque from its 3.5-liter V-6. Nissan has traditionally shared the Z’s FM platform and VQ powertrain with the Infiniti G coupe. In 2008, that car went from G35 to G37 with the addition of a 3.7-liter V-6 that makes 330 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque. Rumors of a 400Z (using the 4.0-liter V-6 found in the Nissan Frontier pick up) or 380Z (using a naturally-aspirated version of the GT-R engine) make much less sense as such a move would put the Z well ahead of Infiniti’s G coupe. Transmission options are expected to be a six-speed manual and Nissan’s new seven-speed automatic.

Our Conclusion: Whatever it turns out to be, Nissan’s next Z left us favorably impressed. More often than not, auto manufacturers dull down vehicles in successive generations. They make them bigger, heavier, more feature laden. Often this physical and feature bloat comes from a desire to make the car more appealing to a wider audience.

With the new Z, it appears Nissan has done the opposite. When it could have simply slapped on new lights and thrown a bigger engine underhood, Nissan adopted the strategy applied to the 2008 Maxima. Instead of going bigger and heavier, Nissan made the new Z shorter, wider — and in all likelihood — lighter and more powerful. These are the kind of real and substantial changes that should get any red-blooded sports car enthusiast cheering.

But will they cheer for all the new changes? We’ll see when the next generation Nissan Z is revealed to the world on November 19 at the 2008 Los Angeles Auto Show.